She once reached the top 10 in the WTA rankings but she never actually won a title before retiring from tennis

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Winning a first title is a huge landmark for players on the WTA Tour, and it often enables them to climb the rankings.

Coco Gauff won her first WTA title at 15-years-old, and has since gone onto scale the rankings to reach a career-high of world number two.

While now five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek won Roland Garros as her first title in 2020.

Four players have already won two WTA titles so far in 2025 in Aryna Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula, Madison Keys and Mirra Andreeva.

All of those players are currently in the top 10 of the WTA rankings, but that status does not always guarantee that you will win a title.

Anna Kournikova was never able to win a WTA title before retiring

Anna Kournikova broke onto the WTA Tour as a teenager, reaching the fourth round of the 1996 US Open on her Grand Slam debut at just 15-years-old.

A year later she reached the semi-finals of Wimbledon, but did not reach her first WTA final until 1998 at the Miami Open.

After beating the likes of Monica Seles and Lindsay Davenport, Kournikova setup a final meeting with Venus Williams.

Kournikova was one set away from lifting the WTA 1000 title, before fellow teenager Williams fought back to claim the title.

This was one of three finals at WTA 1000 level that Kournikova would lose, after being beaten by Martina Hingis in both the finals of the Charleston Open (1999) and the Kremlin Cup (2000).

Just a few weeks after reaching the final of the Kremlin Cup, Kournikova reached a career-high ranking of world number eight.

Despite this, she would only go onto reach one more WTA title at the Shanghai Open, once again finishing as runner-up.

Although she was only 21-year-old at this point, Kournikova would only play eight more matches in her career after that Shanghai final.

This came as a result of chronic back injuries that forced Kournikova to retire in May 2003, after being unable to complete from her final match against Conchita Martinez at the Charleston Open.

Despite having so much promise when arriving on the WTA Tour, Kournikova never won a singles title in her career.

However, Kournikova did manage to win 16 doubles titles including two Grand Slam tournaments.

The Russian twice won the Australian Open (1999 and 2002), both alongside the player that beat her in two singles finals, Hingis.

Five years after retiring from tennis, Kournikova spoke to the Guardian and suggested that she put too much pressure on herself to win that elusive title.

“I put pressure on myself, especially as I got older,” Kournikova said in 2008. “At 16, 17 you have no fear. You don’t think or analyse. You just play on automatic. You can get smarter as you get older, but in sports you can be too smart, you know?”

Who is the current highest ranked player without a WTA title?

While Kournikova did not win a title as the world number eight, all of the current top 30 in the WTA rankings have at least one trophy lift to their name.

The highest ranked player in the WTA rankings without a main tour title is Kournikova’s namesake and world number 31 Anna Kalinskaya.

Kalinskaya, who is a former world number 11 and Australian Open quarter-finalist, has reached two WTA Tour finals in her career so far.

Both of these final defeats came in 2024, when Kalinskaya lost to Jasmine Paolini and Pegula at the Dubai Tennis Championships and the Berlin Ladies Open, respectively.

Kalinskaya led in both of these finals, and actually had five championship points against Pegula on the Berlin grass.

Although she has never won a title on the main tour, Kalinskaya did win a lower level WTA 125 trophy at the Midland Classic in November 2023.

Kalinskaya’s next chance to end her WTA title drought is at the Madrid Open, where she will be the 31st seed and has only ever won two matches before.